Pet stores must maintain large quantities of live fish for sale to consumers. In most cases, fish of similar type are housed in a single aquarium and individual fish are removed by hand netting and transferred into individual containers or bags when purchased. Certain fish, such as the Siamese fighting or Betta fish, must be isolated in separate containers to prevent the fish from attacking each other. These fish thus require special care, handling and display.
Housing large numbers of non-aggressive fish in multiple tanks is an inefficient and cost-intensive method in terms of retail sales. For a consumer to purchase fish, a store employee must be found, who then must scoop out the desired fish into a container, typically a plastic bag, tie the bag to prevent leakage and mark the bag as necessary so that the cashier knows the correct cost. Furthermore, standard aquariums require fairly regular upkeep, which also requires employee man-hours.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus to display fish and continuously circulate water through a plurality of individually removable live fish containers, whereby a large number of individual containers containing one or more fish may be simultaneously displayed to customers and whereby any single fish container may be removed by a customer for purchase of the fish contained therein without interfering with the flow of water through the remaining fish containers, and further whereby flow of water into the space previously occupied by the removed container is halted, diverted or captured within the apparatus. The containers are preferably provided with removable lids and information markings, e.g., bar codes, such that consumers can select the desired fish container, remove it from the display apparatus, and pay for the purchase at the cash register without having to locate and engage store personnel.